Sen. Brown Letter to Trump Calls for Reassessment of Major US Trade Policies
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, called for President-elect Donald Trump to follow through on his pledge to withdraw the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, overhaul the U.S. trade relationship with China and utilize countervailing duty trade cases to investigate foreign currency manipulation claimed by U.S. petitioners, in a Nov. 16 letter (here). Specifically, Brown urged Trump to endeavor to renegotiate China’s Accession Protocol to the World Trade Organization after the nation violated several WTO rules that also hurt U.S. jobs, to pursue WTO cases against unfair Chinese steel and aluminum trading practices, and to maintain the U.S.’s designation of China as a non-market economy for antidumping purposes.
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Brown also called on Trump to stop negotiations on the Bilateral Investment Treaty, claiming that entering more trade agreements with China will encourage more breaches and harm U.S. workers. Further, Brown said Trump should consider a nominee for U.S. Trade Representative who has a manufacturing background, because such a person would bring the “appropriate perspective” of domestic production and employment “to an agency that has been focused on helping corporations make profits overseas.” Dan DiMicco, former CEO of steel producer Nucor, is leading efforts of Trump’s transition team to staff the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Brown in the letter also called on Trump to renegotiate NAFTA (see 1611140064).